When a tooth is damaged, missing, lost, or must be extracted for health reasons, one option available to a patient is the replacement of the lost tooth with a dental prosthesis. While numerous types of dental prostheses are available, dental implants are a generally effective, functional, and cosmetically successful prosthetic apparatus usable to replace a single tooth or group of teeth, while only minimally impacting adjacent and/or uninvolved teeth within the mouth.
Conventional methods for providing a dental implant to a patient first require a surgical procedure to install an implant fixture into the patient's jawbone at the location of the tooth to be replaced. Typically, an implant fixture consists primarily of a titanium screw, which is threaded into a hole that has been drilled or otherwise provided into the jawbone. A two to six month healing period normally follows this procedure before any further steps are taken, to allow the patient's bone to osteointergrate to the titanium implant fixture. During this time, a healing abutment or similar cover can be affixed to the implant fixture. Loading of the implant fixture before sufficient healing has occurred can cause the fixture to move and/or fail, requiring the procedure to be repeated, or possibly preventing use of a dental implant entirely.
Following the healing period, the healing abutment is removed, and a standard implant abutment is installed, which is generally formed from titanium, zirconia, or another similar material. While the dimensions and shapes of implant abutments can vary between dental implant systems, implant abutments are generally available in a range of standard sizes, depending on the tooth to be replaced, and are generally frustro-conical in shape. Due to the fact that each patient's mouth is unique, a standard implant abutment is often unsuitable for accommodating a crown or similar dental prosthesis to replace the lost tooth until modified, such as through grinding and/or machining, to suit the patient's mouth. In addition, conventional methods include the manufacture of the customized dental prosthesis at an off-site laboratory, which requires the patient to endure a certain amount of pain and discomfort for a period of days to weeks, while requiring several visits to a dental office to obtain and ensure a proper fitting with the dental prosthesis.
The typical handling procedure(s) of a standard implant manufacturer, include the following: once the implant is fully osteointergrated, the cover screw is uncovered and exposed via incision or similar method, the cover screw is removed, the healing abutment is placed using a hex screwdriver, and the healing process is permitted to occur. After an adequate healing period has occurred, the healing abutment is removed using the hex screwdriver, and the implant pick-up transfer is attached to the implant. Next, one or more pins are tightened firmly and an impression is taken using a customized impression tray and an elastic impression material. The impression is transported to an off-site laboratory where laboratory technicians will attach the implant replica onto the implant pick-up or implant transfer, tighten the pins, and fabricate a working stone model with a removable gingival modeling material. Then, the laboratory technicians will select and attempt to fit the appropriate abutment on the stone model, using trial and error unless properly instructed by the dentist. Next, the laboratory technicians will mount the abutment with an implant replica in a grinding handle and modify the abutment. It is then recommended that the patient return to the dental office to evaluate the fit of the modified implant within the mouth. Once it has been determined that the implant abutment has been suitably modified to accommodate a crown or similar dental prosthesis, and that the fit is proper, the abutment is again sent back to the laboratory or similar facility, where the crown is fabricated, using the implant abutment and the mold of the patient's mouth to ensure proper fit, function, and cosmetic appearance of the crown. After this final restoration is fabricated by the laboratory, the crown or dental prosthesis is transported to the dental office, and an additional office visit is required for the permanent restoration to be cemented into the patient's mouth.
The entirety of the customization and fitting processes following the healing period can require multiple days, if not weeks, depending on the availability of laboratory resources, and will require numerous dental office visits for a patient, thus incurring significant expense in the form of laboratory costs, dental equipment and costs, and the time associated with the multiple required office visits.
A need exists for methods and apparatuses for providing a dental prosthesis to a patient that can be performed efficiently, on-site, enabling a patient to be provided with a crown or similar dental prosthesis in a single office visit, that can be adapted to any implant procedure and/or system, including those in which implant loading is permitted and accepted upon initial placement.
A need also exists for methods and apparatuses for providing a dental prosthesis to a patient that can be performed without requiring specialized laboratory facilities and the associated expenses.
A further need exists for methods and apparatuses that enable manual manipulation and customization of molds and implant abutments using equipment readily available on-site at a dental office.
The present invention meets these needs.
The depicted embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the listed Figures.